As the lights dimmed and the sounds of distant explosions rattled the facility, Austin decided it was time to understand the pasts of his two most trusted companions. He had been meaning to ask them for some time, but the urgency of the present situation had always come first. Today, though, with the shades rapidly closing in, there was no better time to hear their stories. The past, after all, was something that shaped them—just as it had shaped the very world they had left behind.
Jarek's story began in a small, quiet town in eastern Europe, just on the border between Russia and Ukraine. Born in the early 2020s, Jarek had grown up in a world of technological innovation and looming political unrest. His family, like many others, had lived a relatively normal life—until the year 2027. That was when the world began to change.
"I remember the first day the news broke," Jarek would often say. "It wasn't just a political scandal. It was the beginning of everything."
Jarek's memories of his early years were marked by a sense of normalcy that many would later look back on with nostalgia. His father, a brilliant but reclusive engineer, worked in the aerospace industry, while his mother was a teacher at a local high school. The world around them was rapidly advancing, but for Jarek, everything felt safe, steady. He had always been a curious child, one who would take apart old machines and electronics just to see how they worked. His natural talent for mechanics was apparent even at a young age, and his parents encouraged his interest, enrolling him in engineering classes at the local university when he was only twelve.
But that was before the war began.
When World War 3 broke out in 2032, the world was plunged into chaos. It wasn't a traditional war; it was one of cyberattacks, economic collapse, and massive military mobilizations. The world's superpowers turned against each other, and nations crumbled under the weight of an escalating arms race. The first nuclear strikes came in 2033, and within a matter of months, Europe was a battlefield, with millions dead and entire cities reduced to rubble.
In the midst of this madness, Jarek's father had been recruited by the North Korean government, one of the few nations that had weathered the storm relatively unscathed. North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong-un's successors, had realized early on that humanity needed to find a way to escape Earth before it was too late. And so, they had set in motion a project of unimaginable scale. The goal was simple: to build fleets of spaceships capable of carrying a small portion of humanity to other planets where they could begin anew. Each spaceship was designed to carry 1,000 people—scientists, engineers, workers, and the best and brightest humanity had to offer. Jarek's father had been one of the lead engineers on the project, and as the war raged on, Jarek's family was relocated to one of the North Korean facilities near Pyongyang.
Life on Earth had become a blur of uncertainty. The cities they had once known were no longer recognizable, and even the air felt different—heavier, tainted by the constant hum of warfare and the distant cries of millions who had perished. Jarek's memories of Earth were fleeting. What he remembered most were the days he spent in North Korea's secretive spaceship factories, where he had learned how to build machines on a scale far beyond what anyone could have imagined. At the age of 15, Jarek was thrust into the heart of the war effort. His childhood innocence had been ripped away, replaced by an intense focus on survival and innovation.
By the time the war ended in 2037, Earth was no longer habitable. It had been reduced to a wasteland of abandoned cities and lifeless landscapes. The only option left was to leave. North Korea's space program had succeeded in constructing over a thousand ships, each capable of sustaining life for long periods. In 2038, humanity's last exodus began.
Jarek, now 16, was assigned to one of the ships as part of a group of engineers tasked with keeping the colonies alive. But his past had left him scarred. He had seen the brutality of war firsthand—the countless lives lost, the devastation wrought by the conflict. And when the time came to leave Earth, Jarek had felt a strange sense of guilt. Was it really humanity's time to leave? Were they truly worthy of a new beginning?
But there had been no time for questions. The ships had launched, and Jarek's life on Mars began.
Meanwhile, Rhea's story was different. Born in the mid-2020s, Rhea had grown up in the United States, in a small town in the Midwest. Her childhood had been a time of simplicity, spent with her parents in a rural area far from the turmoil of the world's major cities. Rhea's father was a biologist working for a private company focused on genetic research, and her mother was a doctor specializing in infectious diseases. The world she grew up in was rapidly changing, but for Rhea, life had always felt stable and predictable.
That was, of course, until the war began.
Rhea's memories of the early days of World War 3 were marked by confusion and fear. In 2032, her world was torn apart as the United States plunged into its own conflict, and cities across the country were hit by cyberattacks, leaving millions without power or resources. Within a year, the war had spread across the globe, and the United States found itself on the brink of collapse. Rhea's family had been forced to evacuate their hometown as the government imposed martial law. They fled westward, hoping to escape the violence, but the world was changing too rapidly to stay ahead.
Her parents, concerned about the growing dangers, enrolled Rhea in a medical program in California, hoping she would be able to survive in the new world. But Rhea's world would soon shatter once again. In 2035, when Rhea was just 15, her parents died in a tragic bombing raid. The loss was devastating, leaving Rhea to fend for herself in a world that seemed intent on destroying everything she had ever known.
In the chaos of the war, Rhea was recruited by a group of underground doctors who provided medical assistance to the survivors of the conflict. They taught her how to keep people alive, how to use limited resources to save lives, and how to make the most of what was available. But she could never forget the faces of the people she couldn't save. The faces of her parents.
By the time the war ended, Rhea was a skilled medic, but she had no family left. She joined one of the last ships leaving Earth in 2038, traveling with a group of doctors and biologists to ensure that the new colonies would survive. Rhea's journey to Mars was one of survival and sorrow. She had left behind a world she would never see again, and she had no intention of returning to the chaos she had once known.
When she arrived on Mars, Rhea quickly became known for her calm demeanor and medical expertise. She helped establish one of the first medical stations, and soon, she became an invaluable part of the colony's survival efforts.
Though Jarek and Rhea came from different worlds, their paths had crossed in a way that neither could have predicted. Both had seen the worst humanity had to offer, and both had found solace in the hope of rebuilding. Together, they would face the challenges that lay ahead.
As they sat together in the command center, their faces grim as they prepared for the coming battle, Austin finally understood why they were the people they were. They weren't just survivors—they were the product of a world that had been torn apart and reborn, a world that was now their responsibility to protect. They had fought for their place on Mars, and they would fight again—this time, for the future of humanity.